NFTsDigital Art Star Krista Kim Dreams of the Metaverse as a Space for High-Fidelity, Immersive Art Experiences. Can She Make It a Reality?

The artist's metaverse company is beta-testing Ørb, an interoperable vehicle aiming to deliver immersive content to virtual worlds.

When it comes to naming and envisioning the future, science fiction loves a shape. There are the rings from first-player shooter classic Halo, the twisted labyrinth of ’90s cult film The Cube, the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And where science fiction dreams, the pioneers of today’s metaverses follow.
Enter the Ørb from futurist technology company [0] (pronounced zero), a digital vehicle designed to transport its owner fluidly between metaverses—”interoperability” in tech-speak. The vehicle’s purpose? To become a social space that platforms high-fidelity immersive content. In a move the founders describe as a beta release, the first 2,500 Ørbs, minted as NFTs, dropped via [0]’s website on November 12.
To be sure, the Ørb takes some cues from science fiction, merging the inter-spatial traveling qualities of Doctor Who’s Tardis with the visual experience of Star Trek’s holodeck. “We’re elevating from cyberpunk,” said Krista Kim, founder of [0]. Designed by luxury car designer Alex Dang, the exterior appears like the world’s sleekest shoehorn or kazoo. Inside, it’s a space of light and openness, a nod, perhaps, to the art of Kim, a star of the digital creative scene.
In 2020, Kim created Mars House, an immersive space of soft light and ethereal furniture that hovered above a fiery backdrop. Frequently billed as the first NFT house and accessible in virtual reality, it was sold on SuperRare last year for 288 ETH. Ørb takes the idea of Mars House, as an own-able, navigable, and high-design space, fills it with functionality, and connects it to the metaverse. (One of Kim’s digital installations, part of her “Continuum” series, was also recently acquired by LACMA.)
“Ørb is the first system where people can see and share 360-degree content and have a social experience,” Kim told Artnet News. “This is the next generation of artistic expression. We believe in presenting education, health and wellness, and art experiences in immersive 3D spaces.”


Interoperability is key, not only as an ideological pushback against the siloed nature of Web2, but also because each metaverse has distinct advantages and, indeed, drawbacks. “There’s no metaverse that does it all. HyperFi has great lighting effects and flying movement, Spatial is good if you want productivity tools, Mona is for world building,” said Benny Or, creative director of [0], referring to a number of existing virtual worlds.



But with hundreds of metaverses in existence, many launched in the past year alone, integrating Ørb is a considerable obstacle. “It’s a lot of work,” Or said. “We partnered with the Museum of Crypto Art to try and make Ørb unified and beautiful in as many metaverses as possible.”

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